Google, Intel Helps India Count Each of its 1.2 Billion Citizens

This week, India will begin counting each of its 1.2 billion people, assigning them a unique 12-digit number, and collecting their fingerprints and iris scans.

The WSJ reports:

“The country's leaders are pinning their hopes on the program to solve development problems that have persisted despite fast economic growth. They say unique ID numbers will help ensure that government welfare spending reaches the right people, and will allow hundreds of millions of poor Indians to access services like banking for the first time.”

Officials in India fear that 40% of aid they plan to give to its citizens will end up in the wrong hands or to non-existent people. The nation-wide ID system is aimed at driving that number down.

To help with the wildly complex effort, the Indian government has enlisted the help of employees from Google, Yahoo, and Intel, who are, you know, good at counting things.

Of course, the project raises a host of questions surrounding how the information will be used and who stands to really benefit.